Criteria, Selection, and Evaluation

NM-INSPIRES members consist of senior, mid-career, early-career investigators, post docs, and research staff working within current environmentally relevant funded research programs. We are committed to cultivating a diverse membership by discipline, by research focus (e.g., mechanistic, clinical, population or public health), and by demographics.

Full Members

• Full Members have a primary appointment in an academic department and interest in basic and/or translational environmental health research, as evidenced by current funding of R or K NIH, or other extramural grants.
• Members have evidence of environmentally relevant peer-reviewed publications or evidence of current, past, or future activities. 

Associate Members

• Associate Members include investigators with strong interests in environmental health research, but are lacking ongoing peer-reviewed research, or investigators with established research but are developing collaborations with full members that are not yet seasoned/senior investigators.

Affiliate Members

• Affiliate Members include post docs, research staff and PhD students with strong interests in environmental health research, and whose research area has environmental health relevance.
• Faculty from New Mexico colleges or universities outside UNM. 

Community Members

• Community Members are actively engaged in NM-INSPIRES activities (e.g. Stakeholder advisory board member), and/or
• Project director of a NM-INSPIRES community grant.

Membership Benefits

NM-INSPIRES members will have benefits made available to all members.  These include:

• Membership in a Focus Group, which provide for exchange of ideas, shared resources, and new collaboration opportunities that lead to shared publications and grants.
• Access to funding opportunities including Research Pilot Awards, Rapid Response Pilot Awards, Community Action Funds, and Core Facility Awards.
• Access to Facility Cores that provide discounted services only to NM-INSPIRES members conducting EHS-related research.
• Opportunities for research support and translational research engagement through the IHSFC Core.
• Interactions with community partners regarding local environmental concerns through the CEC
• Access to NM-INSPIRES events including special seminars, workshops, annual retreat, and other networking and educational opportunities.
• Training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows
• Career development opportunities and training for EHS Young Investigators.

Membership Responsibilities

• Members agree to participate in Center seminars, socials, retreats, symposia and surveys.
• Use research cores to advance their research.

All members are all expected to:

• Demonstrate a commitment to environmental health whether through interdisciplinary research, community outreach, education, advocacy or clinical care.
• Cite the NIEHS P30 NM-INSPIRES Center grant on relevant publications including whenever a Center Core resource was utilized, or consultation provided (P30ES032755).

How to Cite the Center's Support

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, our sponsoring agency, requires investigators who use the NM-INSPIRES Center's resources and services to acknowledge that support in the publications as well as any poster presentations, seminar talks, press releases, and other documents relevant to research. This acknowledgement also applies to recipients of all NM-INSPIRES pilot funding/support. NIEHS recommends using this acknowledgement text: "Support for this research was provided by core center grant P30ES032755 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health."

How Members are Chosen

1. The Director and Deputy Director will assess each applicant’s/nominee’s activities and suitability for membership in the center based upon their activities.
2. A member meeting the stated expectations for membership will be appointed at the appropriate level (full/associate/affiliate).
3. Every grant cycle (5 years) membership will be evaluated for continued membership or a change in membership level based on their activity report. The director and IAC will review the activity report and vote (a simple majority will be required for continued membership).